Now, most of us know about the three finger salute that serbs use to signal serbian unity or nationalism, but for those of you that don't know what it looks like, you can see what it looks like here http://www.worldcup365.com/Images/47379.jpg.

Yes, I am aware that SS Soldiers (Especially Ustashas) did a similar solute while taking off their weaponry, but all 3 fingers would be side by side touching eachother. The Serbian adaptation came as a way to show the way they cross themselves (3 giners), to differentiate from the other ethnic groups. But I recently I read something that made me think...

I found a source on the internet, which to be honest, did not look too reliable (was written by a catholic), that states that the three finger solute is a grave sin actually because it seperates the Holy Trinity and fails to show the unificication or the togetherness of the three entities. Now, this makes sense but the person also made a claim that something very similar was mentioned in the Bible itself (about symbolically seperating the Holy Trinity) and that it was punished by God.

Does anyone recall anything similar to this in the Bible? I certainly can't find anything to do with this.

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Христе Боже, Распети и Свети!

"In the history of the human race there have been three principal falls: that of Adam, that of Judas, and that of the pope." Saint Justin Popovic

In like manner in the Sign of the precious Cross, this exclent sacrament of the faith teaches us how to know a mystery. For the joining of three fingers together - the thumb, the ring finger and the little finger, confess the mystery of the three divine hypostases, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God in three persons, while joining together the two other fingers - the foreginger and the middle finger - and extending them signifies the mystery of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who is perfect God and perfect Man. Slightly bending the middle finger confesses the mystery that the Song of God bowed the ehavens nd came down upond the earth and became man for our salvation - Patriarch Joseph of MoscowMany Old Believers would then use this to argue that the modern sign of the cross is blasphemous because joining the first three forefingers and making the sign of the Cross is heretical since it is placing the Trinity on the Cross, instead of just Christ.

To take this to the Serbian salute, I think you're fine.

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"If you give the average Frenchman a choice between a reforming president who would plug the country's huge deficit and a good cheese, he would probably opt for the cheese." - Stephen ClarkeI think the French may be on to something here.

Now, most of us know about the three finger salute that serbs use to signal serbian unity or nationalism

Well, meaning no offense, but I knew nothing about it until now and had I seen the picture you linked to I would have wondered "Why is he signing the number 3?" as that is the American Sign Language hand position for 3. We use some Signed English with our youngest as his speech is delayed due to mild Down Syndrome, so while I'm by no means proficient, I have worked with that language on a child's level for some years. http://library.thinkquest.org/11942/asl_num.htm

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I found a source on the internet, which to be honest, did not look too reliable (was written by a catholic), that states that the three finger solute is a grave sin actually because it seperates the Holy Trinity and fails to show the unificication or the togetherness of the three entities. Now, this makes sense but the person also made a claim that something very similar was mentioned in the Bible itself (about symbolically seperating the Holy Trinity) and that it was punished by God.

Does anyone recall anything similar to this in the Bible? I certainly can't find anything to do with this.

Well, gestures and symbols have different meanings depending on the people or culture using them. It's not necessarily so that something done in one place means the same to people in another place.

That the article you found on the 'net was written by a Catholic does not necessarily mean that it is "unreliable", it depends on the knowledge and qualifications of that individual rather then what Church they belong to (and also there are some splinter groups that claim to such things as being the real Catholic Church and other umm unusual ideas, so until more is known, I see no reason to accept his/her assertions without question). Do you still have the link? Also, when the writer asserted that there was something in the Bible, did they provide a citation as to what book/chapter/verse? If not, it is an undocumented statement. Someone making an unusual claim should back it up.

Ebor

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"I wish they would remember that the charge to Peter was "Feed my sheep", not "Try experiments on my rats", or even "Teach my performing dogs new tricks". - C. S. Lewis